(click on the
links in the text for more photos)
Harvey Broome Group
Savage Gulf Backpack, November 4-5, 2000
19 folks from Oak Ridge, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Tellico Village got together the first
weekend in November for a supposedly late fall color backpack into one of the jewels of the
Cumberland Plateau, Savage Gulf. Leaders for the trip were Susie McDonald and Roger
Jenkins. The route was planned to be an open-ended loop trip, which would entail a car shuttle.
The group started hiking down the west side of Collins Gulf around 11:15 am on Saturday. We
spent a considerable amount of time negotiating the rocky trail as it drops below
Suter Falls,
toward the floor of Collins
Gulf. After lunch, a brief stop at
Horsepound Falls illustrated the
porosity of the floors of these canyons: the water in the creek flows over the rocky shelf which
forms the floor of the gorge, and as it flows over the falls, disappears into a jumble of rocks, not
to be seen for the remainder of the trip. In fact, there is very little water below an elevation of
1100 feet, unless it has recently rained. After a stop to top off their water bags at Schwoon
Spring, the crew arrived at Sawmill Camp in late afternoon. The light mist we had started hiking
in turned into a very light rain. Not enough to soak one, but enough to make you wet if you
stayed out in it long. Many of the participants, at the suggestion of the leaders, had brought
nylon tarps, so despite the drizzle, most folks seemed to spend a relatively dry and sociable
evening around the campfire.
The morning greeted us with fog, through which we could see crystal blue skies. We left
camp,
and began the long climb up the east side of Collins Gulf, and eventually headed across a large
point toward the south rim of Savage Gulf. We lost a couple of participants for a brief moment,
but by the time Roger and Will Skelton had set out to retrieve them, they had realized the error of
their ways, and were headed back in the right direction. The trail along the south rim of Savage
Gulf reminds one of a serpent, as it moves through the terrain, never gaining or losing much
elevation, but never going in a straight line either. The group stopped at one of the many
overlooks for lunch, and continued along the serpentine path through the woods. At the
end of
the trip, we were treated to a glimpse of Savage Falls, which, in wet weather, could be quite
impressive. While fall colors were limited, because of the unusually dry weather for the past
several months, most of the group seemed to enjoy "doing something different." Total hiking
mileage for the trip was about 15. Note that while there are bats in the cave at Schwoon Spring,
those participants who elected not to treat their water suffered no ill effects. For more details on
the outing, go to http://www.twohikers.org/SE_Hiking/SavageGulf.htm
